IT WAS a day of mixed fortunes for the Ormskirk West Lancs teams in their home venue at the Botanic Gardens, Southport last Sunday.

The junior and youth teams, who draw players from across Sefton and West Lancashire, both played an eight-man and four-man match against Furness and Rochdale.

The sun shone brightly on both the greens and the junior team.

Fielding the same team that had done so well in the previous month at Barrow, the juniors (U17s) started off in great style by completely demolishing the strong Furness team in the eight-man match.

Fergal Wright and Matty Greenwood secured wins in the first four.

The West Lancs side were pegged back by the Cumbrians in the other two matches.

The second four on for Ormskirk were unstoppable, though, with all winning.

Matthew Gill triumphed 21-10 and Cameron Wright 21-7, although Cameron was aided by his opponent having to withdraw part way through with a sore neck.

The juniors them destroyed Rochdale in the eight-man, winning seven of the eight matches with Luke Dawes unfortunate in only losing 21-19.

The four-man matches were a little tougher for the juniors and they narrowly lost to Rochdale, losing with tight margins in three of the games.

Cameron Wright enjoyed a fine win to 12 in his encounter.

In the Furness four-man, the West Lancashire youngsters managed a fine 3-1 win.

This must put the juniors near the top of the division with one tough round of matches left in Leeds. Matthew Gill took the junior ‘Player of the Day’ trophy after three fine wins.

There was a slightly different story for the youth team, who again had some underage players appearing for them.

With seven losers on the eight-man against Furness, it was left for new boy Phil Rawlins to win the only match in his debut game to avoid a whitewash.

The Rochdale eight-man match also proved to be tough going although the team picked up three winners, with home player Adam Wood claiming a fine 21-12 triumph.

The team’s only win came in the four-man against Furness where the teams ended up on two winners each. Ormskirk West Lancs took the aggregate by a solitary point.

In the final match against Rochdale it was youth ‘Player of the Day’ Phil Rawlins who was again the only winner, beating Ryan Hughes 21-14.

It was a fantastic day’s bowling and the Botanic Gardens Bowling Club were once again the perfect hosts for the day.

The next round of matches at Leeds will be the real test of how far the players have come though and meeting the strong and vocally aggressive Yorkshire team on their home green will be a difficult and taxing experience.